Graphic design, by its very nature, is a picture of creativity. Indeed, the modern industry calls movements into being and, in return, has to challenge designers to renew their creations continuously, making them innovative and taking into consideration the current trends. But it’s rather exhausting to stay inspired and continuously push the boundaries of their creative abilities. Thankfully, graphic designers have a multitude of resources to help spark their imagination, enhance their skills, and boost their creativity.
Below, we show some of the best tools, websites, and platforms that can keep graphic designers creative, right from design inspiration hubs down to skill-building platforms.
Also Read: 10 Essential Tips for Graphic Designers to Improve Their Skills
Inspiration Design Sites
The internet is a treasure chest of designs, and there are numerous sites just for viewing creative projects done by designers from all over the world. These sites are ideal for finding fresh ideas, new design trends, or just to get those juices flowing.
Also Read: How Graphic Designers Can Stay Ahead with Skill Enhancement
- Behance
Owned by Adobe, Behance is one of the largest creative networks in the world. Designers from different fields share their portfolios; thus, it is an attractive place to seek inspiration. It enables you to filter projects on the basis of particular categories, industries, or even the tools utilized to get exactly what you need to spark your creativity.
Website: behance.net
- Dribbble
Dribbble is another excellent source where designers share their works. This is more focused on digital and web design, covering user interfaces, illustrations, and branding projects. Dribbble lets designers publish “shots”—small previews of their designs—which can give you inspiration through new optics and innovative techniques of design.
Website: dribbble.com
- Awwwards
Awwwards is an online platform that showcases the best projects related to web design and user experience from around the world. The platform gives awards to their top websites, so one can get inspiration on emerging web design trends, coupled with a number of articles and tutorials about the latest design tools and techniques on this site.
Website: awwwards.com
Also Read: Mastering Graphic Design: Key Skills for Career Growth
Creative Resource Libraries
Having premium creative assets can make all the difference in your design process. Having the right fonts, templates, icons, and images make your work better while saving loads of time. Here are some top resource libraries with a range of design assets.
- Envato Elements
Envato Elements hosts one of the largest creative asset libraries, comprising fonts, graphic templates, mock-ups, stock photos, and much more. For one neat subscription fee, you get unlimited access to all these resources and a whole lot more, making it the perfect solution for designers who constantly need top-shelf design assets.
Website: envato.com/elements
- Adobe Stock
Part of Creative Cloud, Adobe Stock supplies millions of royalty-free photos, videos, graphics, and templates. It integrates deeply into Adobe tools like Photoshop and Illustrator, where high-quality assets can be seamlessly incorporated into your projects.
Website: stock.adobe.com
- Unsplash
Unsplash can probably be considered one of the best venues for free, high-quality stock images. It boasts millions of royalty-free photos taken by photographers from all over the world. If you’re just searching for visual inspiration or simply want to include some great photography in your designs, this is a good place to look.
Website: unsplash.com
Skill-Building Platforms
Of course, in such a competitive and creative sphere, graphic design requires fairly constant learning. These platforms provide access to a great number of tutorials, courses, and learning available to designers in advancement of their technical skills and expanding of creative toolkit.
- Skillshare
Skillshare is an online learning platform that offers access to thousands of classes on creative disciplines from graphic design and illustration to typography and UX/UI design. The philosophy behind the project-based learning methodology is inspiring hands-on practice, which helps designers apply new techniques in work more effectively.
Website: skillshare.com
- Udemy
Another very popular online learning resource is Udemy. You can find nearly anything having to do with design on Udemy. Mastering Adobe Photoshop to advanced web design techniques, Udemy provides low-cost courses, which are very helpful for complete beginners and experienced designers alike.
Website: udemy.com
- Domestika
Domestika specializes in creative courses by industry professionals. The focus at Domestika is high quality, project-based learning, with a special emphasis on artistic disciplines such as graphic design, illustration, and photography. Courses are offered in several languages, making it an excellent choice for designers seeking international inspiration.
Website: domestika.org
Design Tools and Software
Having the right tools can make or break a project. These design tools offer features to enhance your creativity, whether you’re looking to experiment with new techniques or simply trying to streamline your workflow.
- Adobe Creative Cloud
The suite of design software from Adobe remains the industry standard. Products such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign are absolutely integral in the work of a graphic designer in any medium. Adobe regularly makes new features for their tools available, which empowers designers to constantly push the creative envelope.
Website: adobe.com/creativecloud
- Figma
Figma is one of the most famous web design tools, which can be used electronically, especially for UI/UX design. It allows real-time collaboration; hence, it is perfect for teamwork-based projects. The vector-based design tools of Figma, along with the prototyping, make it a favorite tool among digital designers to create and test user interfaces effortlessly.
Website: figma.com
- Procreate
For designers who prefer working on tablets, Procreate is a go-to. This digital illustration application for the iPad provides access to a great deal of brushes, tools, and effects which will help someone get the traditional feel of drawing and painting. This is ideal in the case of illustrators and designers wanting to experiment with hand-drawn designs.
Procreate: Website: procreate.art
Creative Communities and Cooperation
Connection with a creative community can help fuel your inspiration, and you will also receive feedback on your work. Collaboration and critique are both priceless when it comes to helping to improve your design skills and offering perspectives on your projects that you may not have considered.
- The Designership
The Designership is an online community of designers basically helping each other grow: design challenges, feedback forums, and collaboration spaces where designers can share their work and encourage others for advice or learning from other designers in the field.
Website: thedesignership.com
- Creative Mornings
Creative Mornings is an international community that organizes free, monthly breakfast lectures for creatives in more than 200 cities. Each event has a different speaker; from designers, artists, and creative professionals who share their work to inspire and enlighten others. It is a great place to connect with other designers and keep getting inspired by leading professionals in the industry.
Website: creativemornings.com
- Reddit’s Design Communities
Amongst others, design communities on Reddit are a place where designers share their work and receive feedback, and discuss industry trends. A subcommunity like r/graphic_design or r/web_design is extremely vibrant, full of valuable resources starting from inspiration up to career advice.
Website: reddit.com
Books and Publications:
Sometimes, the most foolproof way to get those creative juices flowing is to lay off the screen for a while and cuddle up with a good book. Graphic design books teach something new with each read: timeless wisdom on design theory and history and techniques that will help you grow as a designer.
- “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon:
A book that invites the reader to influence and remix ideas to fuel their own creativity, it frankly is an extremely useful resource for designers stuck in a rut or just looking for a new way to enter into their creative process.
Conclusion:
What does this take to remain creative as a graphic designer? Much more than natural talent is required: inspiration, learning, and access to quality resources. Whether you are looking for inspiration for designs, creative assets, or want to improve your skills further, all the above resources will give you useful tools to boost your creativity and further your career. These platforms and communities play a great role in helping designers keep up with industry trends, improve the craft itself, and keep creative juices flowing; that’s where great innovative work comes from